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Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Holiday: Cruise to America - Days 5 to 10: All at Sea

We said goodbye to land yesterday evening, and we are now at sea for six days. Next stop – Port Canaveral, on the east cast of America.

So, now it’s just a question of keeping ourselves occupied on-board until we reach the USA next Thursday!

DAY 5 - FRIDAY

Up at 7.30… Breakfast in the Lido… 11am: Theatre for lecture about Military Intelligence/Counter-intelligence 1900-45 by Dr Mark Baldwin (fascinating!)… Three times round the Prom Deck…Catch-up with reading… Room Service for lunch… Catch-up with reading… A cuppa in the Lido… Reading in the Commodore’s Lounge (fast becoming our fave place for chilling)… Get ready for Dinner… Dinner in the Britannian Restaurant… Theatre: Watching Philip Hitchcock - British Magical Grand Prix Champion (he was terrible!!!)… finishing off at the Commodore Lounge for a swift nightcap.

(We learned today that a Hurricane had hit The Azores today, luckily, we missed it by a day!)

DAY 6 – SATURDAY

The clocks went back another hour last night, so it was no problem getting up just after 7am! The weather is improving too with the outside temperature touching 17 degrees at 8am. We are now 900 miles closer to the USA with only around 1700 miles to go.

First trip to the Launderette… Breakfast in the Britannia Restaurant (trying hard to avoid the man with the humungous tray of pastries!)… Failed!… Some light reading in the Chart Room… Retrieve washing from Launderette…Ironing… First use of our Balcony for some sunbathing… A short walk around the upper-deck in the Sun… Comfy chairs in the shade… Ice Cream machine that gives free ice-cream discovered… Lunch in the Pub… Three times round the Prom Deck… More lizarding… 2pm: Posh piano concert ‘Nocturne’ in the Queen’s Room with classical pianist Helen Leek – too highbrow even for Ann, so we left halfway through… A short siesta back in our room… Formal night tonight… We ate ‘posh’ in the Verandah Restaurant ($24 per person extra – and well worth it, but the portions were massive!)… Return to the Theatre – tonight’s star was Julian Lloyd Webber, his wife on the cello, Jiaxin, and their piano protegé, 18-year-old YuanFan Yang (who was simply astounding)… Last stop, the Chart Room for an Ovaltine alcohol infusion, where they had a jazz band playing.

DAY 7 – SUNDAY

Up at 7.45… Breakfast in our Room… The Gym… 11am: Lecture about the future of Cruising by Bill ‘Mr Ocean Liner’Miller (very entertaining and informative)… On Deck to soak up some Sun (21 degrees)… Lunch in the Britannia Restaurant… More Sun worshipping on our Balcony… Afternoon siesta… Informal night tonight… Britannia Restaurant for our evening meal… Chart Room for a night-cap. Clocks back another hour tonight!

DAY 8 – MONDAY

Up at 6.30 local time… Decided to do the Gym before anything else (Brain says this is a smart move, whilst my body is not so sure!)… Later breakfast (tempted by the Dark Side and succumbed to sausages, beans, mushrooms and hash browns)… On deck for an extended period of sunbathing…. Lunch in the Lido… Return to the Launderette (got the last empty machine – yay!)… Afternoon nap… Launderette: Washing done, but no driers free (bummer!)… Informal night again tonight… Air conditioning playing up in certain areas of the ship… Britannia Restaurant for eats as normal… Theatre: Jenny Williams, singer (a fantastic voice and tremendous vocal range)

Looks like we might arrive at Fort Lauderdale ahead of schedule (Wednesday instead of Thursday). That’ll help the normally slow USA paperwork process and allow us to make the most of our time there

DAY 9 – TUESDAY

Up at 6.25 local time… Off to the Gym joining a gazillion others at 7am… Breakfast in the Lido… Then settled in the Garden Room (freezing!)… Lecture at 10am: Digging for the Truth (discussing forensic archaeology) with Tristram Elmhirst… followed at 11am by An Audience with Julian Lloyd Webber (much more entertaining than I thought it would be)… Rest of morning spent finding the Sun around the deck (it proved to be impossible!)… Lunch in the Lido – including a revisit to the free ice-cream machine… Turned out to be a very cold day, wich was surprising, given our geographical position… Last formal night tonight… We avoided the Theatre tonight as it was the Ship’s Company ‘doing their thing’…Finished off in the Commodore’s Lounge for a nightcap… Clocks back one hour tonight.

DAY 10 – WEDNESDAY

We should have been at sea today, but we’re ahead of schedule and in Port Canaveral approximately one day ahead of schedule!